Safety-razor blade sharpener



J.W. SHARP SAFETY RAZOR BLADE SHARPENER June 1o, 1947.

Filed.- May 22, 1945 Flq 1 .AT TORNE Y Patented June 10, 1947 UNITED`STATES PATENT OFFICE Y 2,422,048` l. l

SAFETY-Razon BLADE snAnPENEn `John W. sharp, Muncie, Ina.

` Application May 22, 1945, Serial No. 595,137

2 Claims. 1 This invention relates to improvements in implements forfacilitating the sharpening of safety razor blades.

By reason of Vthe fact that a blade of the above description is anentity rectangular inplan forz mation and without a handle, and that thelongitudinal parallel margins thereof are very thin and extremelyflexible, the blade does not lend itself to conventional procedures;experience has taught that the moving of the blade over a Whetstone orhone having a flat or extended surface, even when such a blade may beheld by means designed to maintain the margins of the blade againstflexing, has been unsatisfactory. Attrition at the edge ofthe margin ofthe blade is not only too severe, but also, it s notuniform throughoutthe extent of said margin.

In developing my invention I have kept in mind that the margin of thesafety razor blade, as distinguished from the margin of a blade of mostevery other kind, is extremely thin and unusually flexible; and that itis possessed of a microscopically toothed and keen shaving edge such asmay only be afforded by the specialprocedures which are incident to themanufacture of said blade. Also I have considered that whereas afterrepeated use of such a blade its eiciency as a razor may have becomereduced;` it should not be assumed, as so often hasbeen done, in theprior art;` that te recondition the blade, a conventional whetting orhoning operation is, necessary or desirable. To the contrary, myexperiments have proven that an extremely light and delicate degree ofpressure interacting between the abradant element of whatever character,and the edge of thel margin of the blade is essential, if an edge whichis uniformly keen and sharp from end to end of the margin of the bladeis to be obtained.

-To provide means whereby Vin subjecting the bladefto a sharpeningprocedure, the attrition imposed on the blade may be of the nature ofrubbing or smoothing, rather than of grinding or abrading such asby theuse of a conventional whetstone, strop or hone; and that the contactingof the margins of the blade with the abradant element, while beingsteady and constant, shall at the same time befuniform from end to endof the margins of the blade, is the object, broadly stated, of myinvention. l

An abradant body which lends itself especially to the aims of myinvention consistsof a slab having a whetting face convex in crosssection and of concaveflcurvature longitudinally; it thus being'adaptedto engage only the outboard edges of the margins ofthe blade.` Myinvention consists of a device adapted to be held by one hand of theuser to support a slab of the above description in such manner thatwhile holding the blade at its ends by the fingers of the other hand,the slab and the blade may be so manipulated with relation to each otherthat the contact between the slab and blade is cushioned, and duringwhich said transaction the-yield or flexing of the edge portion `of themargin of the blade immediately at the whetting face of the said slab isuniformly affected.

The said generalobject, as Well as other and more specific aims as willpresently appear, are accomplished by and my invention is embodied inthe new construction, combination and arrangement of parts described inthe following specification and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in whichi Figure 1 is a side view of the abradant slab.

Figure 2 is a vertical central cross sectionvew, taken on the brokenline 2--2 in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a. fragmentary enlarged view illustrative of a typicalcurvature of the Whetting face of said abradant slab, and of theposition of a conventional safety razor blade, with relation thereto.

Figure 4 is a perspective view indicative of the positions in Vwhich thesaid abradant slab and the safety razor blade are held by the userpreliminary to their being disposed in contacting relation;

' Figure 5 is a perspective view illustrating the flexing of the edge ofthe margin of the blade as it is passed across the whetting face yof theslab.

Figure 6 is a side view showing the appearance of the abradant body orslab when supported by a mechanical cushioning device, said device beingshown mainly in vertical central cross section.

Figure 7 is a view of Figure 6 in the direction of arrow 1.

`Figure 8 is a view of Figure 6 in the direction of arrow 8.

Figure 9 illustrates a slab of modified form.

The slab consists of a slablike structure of hard, ne grained densematerial such as whet slate I2 which is of thickness equivalent to notless than twice the distance between the plane of one end of the 'bodyportion of the blade and the plane of the adjacent ends of the marginalportions of said blade to provide a Whettingface I4. `This Whetting faceisconcave from end to end and is transversely convex, as indicated inFigure 1 and in Figure 2. Its degree of curvature, from end to end, foraccommodating a blade f the typical example shown is that of an arcstruck from a radius of about four inches, and its surface is dressed toa polished finish. The enlarged detail View Figure 3 is illustrative ofthe border portion of the slab embodying said Wheting face, and itindicates the position of the blade when same will have been disposed inposition with the extreme edge ,portionsfof the lmargins of the blade inrubbing engagement with said whetting face.

For supporting the slab I have provided a holder device of constructionindicated in yFigures 6, 7, and 8. l

I3 designates a tubular body of the suitable proportions shown and whichI designate as a handle. A tonguelike portion sliced longitudinallyfrom, and which is bent inwardly of the upper portion of said handleconstitutes a lug I9; and the opening which is incidentfto said slicingconstitutes a gap 20.

A tubular sleeve 2i which I designate as a holder is of diameter to beslidingly received and retained within the said handle, and it isprovided at its upper portion vwith a central longitudinal bifurcation22. -The opposed sides 26 and 28 of said holder are strained slightlytoward each other and theyconstitute fork arms, the inner face of eacharm being provided with a shallow offset 29. Near the lower end of saidholder is an inwardly directed lug 30. A retractile helical spring 32has its lower end secured to said lug 3B.

To assemble the parts just described, the holder 2| is inserted inthelower end of the handle I8 and is moved vupwardly to projected position,the bifurcation 22 clearing the lug I9 of the handle. By means of asuitable implement (such as a bent wire hook not shown) inserted eitherthrough the upper portion of the holder or through bifurcation 22and gap2l] the eye of said spring is disposed in connected engagement with thelug I9 of the said handle. The holder now, by the tension 0f the spring32 is urged upwardly, and by reason of the bottom 23 of bifurcation 22meeting the lug I9, is retained in thenormal upward status shown.Between the offsets 29and 29 of the fork arms of said holder, isinserted the slab I2 its lower portion being securely gripped by thefork 4rarms of said holder. The bottom of the handle lI8 is suitablyfinished as by a cap 34.

The retractile spring 32 interacting, as it does', between the lug I9 ofthe handle I8; and the lug 300i the holder 2|, sustains the holder, asbefore stated, yieldingly in the raised position. At the same time, itfunctions as a means to connect the vholder to said handle. Thus, theabove construction affords a cushioning and which is a preventiveagainst a too severe contacted c0- engagement of the whetting face I4 ofthe slab and the blade margins.

To provide for sharpening of a single-edged blade, or of a blade oflesser width than that of the standard conventional blade shown herein,I provide a slab of formation embodying a plurality of Whetting facesvwhich are differentiated in end-to-end contour, as typicallyillustrated in the modification at Figure 9, each of said faces beingidentified by a reference character. For example, the curvature dictatedby an arc struck from a radius of three and three quarters inches beingmarked B; and curvatures derived from shorter radii being marked C, D,and E. "Whet slatebeing a stone of fine grained, hard anddense-structure, and lending itself vespecially tothe procedure withwhich my invention is concerned, it is recommended asy being thematerial preferred for the abradant body, although other material havingthe above characteristics may be found practicable.

It will be understood that my invention is capable of minormodifications within the scope of same as it is defined in the claims,without departing from the principle or spirit of the invention orsacrificing any of its advantages.

Procedure in using the invention is as follows llhe slab having beenplaced between the fork arms of the sleeve 2| the user now, with thehandle I8 grasped, say, by his left hand, and while holding the blade atits ends by the thumb and forenger of his other hand, brings the bladeand slab into contacted relation, the edge portions I6 of the margins ofthe blade being intimately coengaged with the Whetting face I4 of theslab, as indicated in Figure 3. The yield of spring 32 .while serving tosupport the slab prevents a too severe urge toward each other, of theslab and the blade, so that in the transaction of shifting the bladereciprocatively across the Whetting face I4 of the slab, there isobtained a delicate rubbing irictional contactual traversing of the edgeportions I6 of the rmargins of said blade, from one end to the other ofsaid margins. The thumb and forenger at the opposite ends of said blademeeting, as they do, the opposite side faces of said slab, the length 0fthe stroke of the blade while thus having been limited, will have beensuicient for the blade margins to have traversed the whetting face I4their entire length.

The said whetting face being convex in cross section contour, and thecurvature longitudinally of said face being such that the edges only ofsaid blade meet said face, it is obvious that in the transaction ofmoving the blade, the edge portions IB of the margins, flexible as theyare, and yielding as they do, are enabled to be in such frictionalengagement with the said whetting face that every particle of said edgeportion of the margin is affected. By the above described procedure, theedge portion of said blade margin is worn with such uniformity andnicety that whereas there is accomplished the effective sharpeningattrition of the metal, there is no breaking down or impairment of themicroscopic teeth thereof. The opposite side surfaces of the slabconstitute stops for the thumb at one end of the blade, and for theforeiinger at the other end of the blade, whereby as said thumb andlinger meet alternately with the said side surfaces of the slab, therange of each stroke of the blade is limited to the distance necessaryfor the end of the blade margin to have passed the crest of the whettingface I4 of the slab.

What I claim as my invention, is:

1. In combination with a slab shaped abradant body having a polishedwhetting face relatively narrow in width, concave from end to end andtransversely convex and adapted to be traversed by the opposedlongitudinal edge portions of the margins of a safety razor blade, ahandle, a holder device consisting of a tubular sleeve provided at itsupper portion with a central longitudinal bifurcation in the outboardarea of which the said abradant body is made fast, there being providedat the lower end of said sleeve an inturned lug, a

tubular handle within which the said sleeve is slidingly receivedsaidhandle having an inturned lug which is received in ythe bifurcation ofsaid sleeve, and a retractile spring having the ends thereof connectedwith said lugs whereby the sleeve is supported yieldingly in saidhandle.

2. In combination with an abradant slab having a whetting face convex incross section and concave from end to end, a holder device thereforconsisting of a tubular sleeve provided at its upper portion with acentral longitudinal bifurcation the opposed sides thereof beingstrained toward each other and each having an offset to engage a side ofsaid slab, there being provided at the lower portion of said sleeve aninturned lug, and a tubular handle within which the said sleeve isreceived, said handle having an inturned lug at its upper portion andwhich is received in the bifurcation of said sleeve, andra, retractiletension member interconnecting the said lugs.

JOHN W. SHARP.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

